Scrap coiling



R. F. HERR SCRAP COILING March 15, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed March 3, 1954 INVENTOR. Rrcunno E HERR BY March 15, 1960 R. HERR 2,928,622

SCRAP COILING Original Filed March 3, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. Z

INVENTOR. RICHRRD E HERR firforney March 15, 1960 R. F. HERR SCRAP COILING Original Filed March 3, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 2 37 Fig.3 I 3 A 10 26m II 2% a INVENTOR. 1 RzcunRo E HERR H t't'orney.

March 15, 1960 R. F. HERR 2,928,622

SCRAP COILING Original Filed March a, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 SOURCE INVENTOR. RICHR RD E HERR Rffqmey 2,928,622 I Patented Man-15, 1960 1 2,928,622 SCRAP COlLlNG Richard F. Herr, Warren, Ohio, assignor to The Herr Equipment Corporation, Warren, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Continuation of application Serial No. 413,924, March 3, 1954. This application August 22, 1955, Serial No. 529,793

Claims. (Cl. 242-755) The present invention relates to scrap handling apparatus, more particularly to apparatus for coiling scrap, and the principal object of my invention is to provide new and improved apparatus of the character described. This is a continuation of my application Serial Number 413,- 924, filed March 3, 1954, for Scrap Handling Apparatus, now abandoned.

In many metal working operations in which the formation of scrap is a necessary part of the operation, the handling and disposal of such scrap presents a considerable problem which adds materially to the costs of production. This problem is particularly acute in operationswherein long strips of metal are slit to a predetermined width with the result that one or more'slivers or ribbons of scrap are formed each of which may be hundreds of feet long.

In the past, the ribbons of scrap were sometimes deposited in a pit adjacent the slitter; however, this device isnot satisfactory since .the problem of removal and disposal of the tangled mass of scrap from the pit when it becomes filled still exists.

Another device heretofore employed comprised apparatus which chopped the ribbons of scrap into short pieces. This also has not been satisfactory since the chopping device requires considerable maintenance and since the resulting short pieces of scrap are difiicult to handle because they cannot be compressed into bales and they. accordingly must be placed in containers.

7 My invention provides apparatus which will form the long ribbons of scrap resulting from the slitting of metal strip. into a tightly wound coil which is easily handled. Moreover, my invention is troublefree in use and operates with a minimum of attention so that higher production and lower costs result. These and other advantages will become apparent from a study ofthe following description and from thedrawings appended hereto.

In the drawings accompanying this specification and forming a part of this application there are shown, for purposeof illustration, embodiments which my invention may assume, and in these drawings:

Figure l is an end elevational view of a preferred form of my scrap coiler, parts being broken away to show details,

Figure 2 is a top plan view of theembodimentillustrated in Figure 1,

.Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view generally corresponding to the line 3-3 of Figure l,

Figure 4 is a schematic wiring diagram of the electrical circuit employed in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3,

' Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of a fluid circuit employed in'Fignres 1, 2 and 3, v 2 Figure 6 is a fragmentary top plan view of embodiment of the invention, and

Figure 7 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the embodiment illustrated in Figure 4.

For the purpose of the present disclosure, it will be assumed that my scrap coiler will be employed in han dling scrap which results from a slitting operation performed by any suitable slitter apparatus A fragmentarily shown by dot-dash lines in Figure 1. As illustrated,

another bearings 24.

stock .8 passes through the slitter where it is cut to the proper width and is then wound upon any suitable coiling apparatus (not shown). The piece of scrap X, or pieces, if the stock is trimmed along more than one edge, will be fed to the hereinafter disclosed scrap coiler where it will be wound into a tight coil.

As shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, the-herein disclosed scrap coiler comprises an arbor 10 rotatably supported by spaced-apart bearings 11 and 12 which are bolted or otherwise secured to supports 13 which extend upwardly from a base 14. As best seen in Figures 2 and 3, a portion 15 of the arbor extends beyond the bearing 11 and is tapered as shown for a purpose later to be disclosed.

A pair of circular plates 16, 17 are secured to the arbor portion 15 in spaced-apart relation to provide shoulders which extend radially of the arbor for a purpose to be shown.

The plate 16 may be fixedly securedto the arbor by welding or other suitable means while the plate 17 is removably secured to the arbor by means of a winged nut member 18 threaded upon a stud 19 which is anchored in the arbor and which extends axially thereof. The portion 15 of the arbor is provided with one or more longitudinally extending slots 20 for a purpose to be shown, and it will be clear that the arbor portion 15 and the plates 16, 17 provide a winding spool.

'Means are provided for rotating the arbor 10 and as disclosed in Figures 1, 2 and 3, such means comprises an electric motor 21 which has driving engagement with the arbor through belts 22. In the present embodiment, motor 21 is a shunt-wound direct current motor; however, it willreadily be apparent that in other embodiments other suitable means may be employed to rotate the arbor 1 0. 7

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, a shaft 23 is rockably supported by spaced-apart bearings 24 which are secured to supports 25 extending upwardly from th base 14. Scrap engaging means presently comprising a plate, or shoe, 26 is secured to the shaft 23 by any suitable means, a po'rtion of the plate extending transversely of the shaft and beyond the arbor 10 and being of a width to fit between the circular plates 16, 17 secured to the arbor. For a purpose later to become clear, a portion 27 of the .plate 26 adjacent the arbor 10 is preferably curved in the manner shown in Figure 1.

In the present embodiment, a portion 28 of the shaft .23 extends beyond one of the bearings '24 (see Figure 2) and an arm 29 has one end fixedly secured to the portion 28 by any convenient means. It is to be understood that shaft 23, plate 26 and arm 29 form a structurally in- :tegral assembly which is rockably supported by the spaced In the embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, the free end of the arm 29 is pivotally secured to a fluid -cylinder 30 which serves to counterbalance the plate 26 and control its rocking movement about the axis of the shaft 23. As best shown in Figure l, the piston rod 31 of the cylinder 30 is pivotally secured to the base .14 by means of a bracket 32.

As illustrated inFig ure 5, cylinder 30 is suitably connected to a convenient source of fiuidpressure and a control-valve 33 is provided for selectively admitting such fluid pressure to the cylinder. Means are provided for controlling the force exerted by the cylinder 30 audit is presently preferred to provide a suitable regulator valve 34 which will selectively control the'p-ressure of the fluid admitted to the cylinder. j

It'is an important feature of the'present invention that means are provided for automatically varying the speed of the arbor 10 during the scrap coiling operation in accordance with the diameter of the coiled scrap .wourid upon the portion15 of the arbor. i

far described In the embodiment illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3, a suitable rheostat 35 is secured to a support 36 which extends upwardly of the base 14 (see especially Figure 3.). Rheostat 35 has an operating shaft 37 extending therefrom and a sprocket 38 is suitably secured to shaft 37 .by any convenient means. A sprocket 39 is secured to portion 28 of shaft 23 (Figures, 1 and 2), and a suitable chain 40 connects the sprockets 38, 39' so that move-.

ment of shaft 23 effects a proportional movement of shaft 37 to effect movement of the operating parts of the rheostat 35. V

As schematically shown in Figure 4, the rheostat 35 is electrically connected in series with the field of the shunt-wound direct current motor 21 so as to control current flow through the field and thereupon control the speed of the motor. A trimmer rheostat 41 for use by the operator of the apparatus is also in series with the motor field for a purpose tobe disclosed.

As hereinbefore mentioned, and for purpose of illustration, the present inventionvis shown in combination with a conventional slitting line which comprises the slitter shown in dot-dash lines in Figure 1 and other associated apparatus (not shown) such as acoiler for winding up the slit stock and a pay-oif device for feeding strip to the slitter. The usual manner of driving a slitting line comprises rotating one or more of the above mentioned component pieces of apparatus by means of direct current motors whose speed may be easily regulated by controlling the flow of current fed thereto. Accordingly, in the embodiment illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4, current for energizing motor 21 may conveniently be supplied from the same controlled source of current which supplies the conventional slitting line.

Operation of the embodiment of the invention thus is as follows: The stock slitting operation" will be started by jogging the stock S through the slitter in the usual manner. The operator will then enter the end of the ribbon ,of

the stock (or ends if more than one ribbon of scrap is being slit from the stock) into the slot 20 in the arbor portion 15 of the scrap coiling apparatus. The operator will then shift the valve 33 to admit fluid under pressure to the cylinder 30 so as to move plate 26 to the position shown in Figure 3 and to the position shown in full lines in Figure 1. The entire slitting line, including my scrap coiling apparatus, will now be energized.

With the arbor rotating in the direction of the arrows, the scrap X will be wound upon the'arbor portion between the shoulders 16, 17 as the scrap leaves the slitter. Since it is desirable for the scrap coiler to absorb the scrap at about the same rate as it leaves'the slitter, the operator will accordingly adjust the speed of the. motor 21 by means of the trimmer rheostat' 41. However, in certain'cases it has been found preferable to so regulate the speed of arbor 10 that the peripheral scrap X which has been cut from p the proper force (which may be controlled by the regulator valve 34), the scrap will be evenly distributed across the arbor because the pressure exerted by the plate will force the scrap to fill any voids which develop in the coil.

As the diameter of the coil of scrap increases during the winding operation, the rotational speed of the arbor must be decreased to prevent the scrap coiler from exerting a tension on the ribbon of scrap and causing it to break. This speed control of the arbor is automatically obtained in the following manner: The portion 27 of the plate 26 rides the periphery of the coiled scrap and it will therefore be forced away from the arbor and against the urging of the cylinder 30 as the coil of scrap increases in diameter. This rocks the shaft 23 within its bearings 24 and thus motion is transmitted to the rheo'st'at 35 through the sprockets 38, 39 and the chain speed of the coil of scrap wound thereon will be slightly less than the linear speed of the material moving through the slitter. This insures that no tension' will be placed on the thin ribbon of scrap to cause it to break. In these cases, since scrap emerges from the. slitter. at a slightly greater rate than it is being wound upon the arbor 10,

the scraptends to buckle and pile up in a tangled mass in front of the arbor. Periodically, this tangled mass of scrap will become snagged by the scrap coiled upon the arbor and the mass will thereupon be caught up with the coil. of scrap and become a part thereof.-

It will be clear that as the scrap is wound upon the arbor portion 15, a coil of increasing diameter will be formed. The portion 27 of the plate 26 will ride upon the periphery of the coiled scrap and, since the cylinder 30 is continually urging the plate toward the arbor, the

coil will be tightly compacted and the scrap will be evenly distributed across the arbor portion 15 between 5th: shoulders 16, 17. It will readily be apparent that when the plate 26 is urged against the coiled scrap with ,40. Movement of the rheostat 35 in the manner disclosed'will, in the'present embodiment,.increase flow of current through the field of the motor 21 by decreasing the resistance in the field circuit thereof to thus reduce the speed of the motor and the speed of the arbor 10 driven thereby to'maintain the linear winding rate of the scrap coilersubstantially the same'or, in certain cases, slightlyless than the linear rate of the stock passing through the slitter. i V

If, for any reason, the ribbon of scrap X should break during the slitting operation, it has been found that the end of the scrap will be guided to engagement with the coil by the plate 26 and'that such end will immediately be caught up in the haphazardly wound coil so that coiling of the scrap will be resumed without attention from the operator. I

When a sufiiciently large coil of scrap has been wound upon the arbor, the slitting line will be stopped; valve 33 will be operated to admit fluid to cylinder 30 in a manner to move plate 26 away frumjhe coiled scrap; nut 18 and shoulder plate 17 will be removed and the coiled scrap pulled from the arbor portion 15, it being apparent that the taper ,of the arbor portion 15 facilitatesj such removal of the coil. If necessary, removal of the coiled scrap may be further facilitated by rotating the arbor in a reverse direction. This will slightly unwind the coil layers immediately adjacent the arbor por.- tion 15 and relax the grip of the coil upon the arbor.

7 Upon removal of the coiled scrap from the arbor, the shoulder plate 17 and the nut 18. will be replaced and the slitting and scrap coiling operation resumed as heretofore disclosed.

Figures 6 and 7 fragmentarily illustrate another embodiment of my scrap coiler wherein different means are employed to regulate the speed of the spool provided by my invention. The general design of the embodiment illustratedin Figures. 6 and 7 is similar to that illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3; accordingly, similar parts have been given the same reference numbers but with the letter a appended.

' a In the embodiment shown in Figures 6 and 7, a variable speed drive unit 42 is employed. Since such units are commercially available from many sources,-it willbe sufficient to explain that such units generally comprise a constant speed drive motor connected to an out-put shaft 43 by any suitable means which will provide 01, varying the drive ratio between the motor and such shaft. Ordinarily, the connection between the motor and the shaft comprises .a belt running over sheaves whose relative effective diameters may be varied by a suitable control. However, it will be clear that any Suitable, variable speed drive unit'may be employed.

In the instant embodiment, a flexible shaft 44'suitably connects portion 28a of shaft 23a with the control which regulates the speed .of out-put shaft 43. Accordingly, in the embodiment. of the invention illustrated in Figures .6 and I, thexspeed ofshaft 43 and therefore the speed of arbor 10a will be effectively controlled by the In all other respects, this embodiment of the invention is similar to the embodiment illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3 and operates in a similar manner.

In view of the foregoing it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that I have accomplished at least the principal object of my invention and it will also be apparent to those skilled in the art that the embodiments herein described may be variously changed and modified, without departing from the spirit of the invention, and that the invention is capable of uses and has advantages not herein specifically described, hence it will be appreciated that the herein disclosed embodiments are illustrative only, and that my invention is not limited thereto.

I claim:

1. Scrap coiling apparatus comprising a rotatably supported arbor having a pair of transversely extending, longitudinally spaced-apart heads, drive means for rotating said arbor at various speeds, scrap engageable means cooperable with said arbor and said heads to define therewith a scrap confining space bounded on respective opposed sides by said scrap engageable means and said arbor and bounded on other opposed sides by said heads and said arbor and said engageable means being relatively movable toward and away from each other to vary the size of said space, said engageable means and said arbor being urged in a direction toward each other thereby tending to minimize said scrap confining space, said engageable means riding the periphery of a coil of scrap wound upon said arbor and concentrating pressure upon the largest diameter portion of said coil to cause movement of said scrap axially of said arbor away from said largest diameter portion to effect even distribution of the scrap within said confining space, during winding said coil increasing in diameter and becoming sufliciently compacted to force said engageable means and said arbor apart against the force tending to minimize said scrap confining space, and means responsive to the relative positions of said arbor and said engageable means for varyingthe speed of said arbor in accordance with the buildup in diameter of said coil of scrap.

2. Scrap coiling apparatus comprising a rotatably sup ported arbor having a pair of transversely extending, longitudinally spaced-apart heads, drive means for rotating said arbor at various speeds, scrap engageable means cooperable with said arbor and said heads to define therewith a scrap confining space bounded on respective opposed sides by said scrap engageable means and said arbor and bounded on other opposed sides by said heads and said arbor and said engageable means being relatively movable toward and away from each other to vary the size of said space, means yieldably urging said engageable means and said arbor toward each other thereby tending to minimize said scrap confining space, said engageable means riding the periphery of a coil of scrap wound upon said arbor and concentrating pressure upon the largest diameter portion of said coil to cause movement of said scrap axially of said arbor away from said largest diameter portion to effect even distribution of the scrap within said confining space, during winding said coil increasing in diameter and becoming sufiiciently compacted to force said engageable means and said arbor apart against the force exerted by said urging means tending to minimize said scrap confining space, and means responsive to the relative positions of said arbor and said engageable means for varying the speed of said arbor in accordance with the build-up in diameter of said coil of scrap.

3. Scrap coiling apparatus comprising a rotatably sup ported arbor having a pair of transversely extending, 1ongitudinally spaced-apart heads, drive means for rotating said arbor at various speeds, scrap engageable means cooperable with said arbor and said heads to define theretively movable toward and away from each other to vary with a scrap confining space bounded on respective opposed sides by said scrap engageable means and said arbor and bounded on other opposed sides by said heads the size'of said space, means yieldably urging said engageable means and said arbor toward each other thereby tending to minimize said scrap confining space, means for selectively varying the efiective force exerted by said urging means, said engageable means riding the periphery of a coil of scrap Wound upon said arbor and concentrating pressure upon the largest diameter portion of said coil to cause movement of said scrap axially of said arbor away from said largest diameter portion to effect even distribution of the scrap Within said confining space, during Winding said coil increasing in diameter and becoming sufiiciently compacted to force said engageable means and said arbor apart against the force'exerted by said urging means tending to minimize said scrap confining space, and means responsive to the relative positions of said arbor and said engageable means for varying the speed of said arbor in accordance with the build-up in diameter of said coil of scrap.

4. Scrap coiling apparatus comprising a rotatably supported arbor having a pair of transversely extending longitudinally spaced-apart heads providing a winding spool upon which scrap is adapted to be wound, drive means for rotating said arbor at various speeds, means for com- 3 i pacting said scrap about said arbor and including a shoe positioned between said heads and extending substantially from one head to the other and supported for movement toward and away from said arbor and frictionally engageable with the periphery of the coil of scrap wound thereon, means yieldably urging said shoe into engagement with the periphery of said coil of scrap with predetermined force and being adjustable to provide for varying such force in accordance with requirements, said shoe riding the'periphery of said coil of scrap and during winding being forced away from said arbor against the force exerted by said urging means as said coil increases in diameter, and means responsive to the position of said shoe relative to said arbor for varying the speed of said arbor in accordance with the build-up in diameter of said coil of scrap.

5. Scrap coiling apparatus comprising a rotatably supported arbor having a pair of transversely extending, longitudinally spaced-apart heads providing a winding spool upon which scrap is adapted to be wound, drive means for rotating said arbor at various speeds, means for directing said scrap toward said arbor and for compacting said scrap thereabout, said means including a plate having a portion positioned between said heads and extending substantially from one head to the other and being pivotally supported for movement toward and away from said arbor and frictionally engageable with the periphery of the coil of scrap wound thereon, means yieldably urging said plate into engagement with the periphery of said coil of scrap with predetermined force and being adjustable to provide for varying such force in accordance with requirements, said plate riding the periphery of said coil of scrap and during winding being forced away from said arbor against the force exerted bysaid urging means as said coil increases in diameter, and means responsive to the position of said plate relative to said arbor for varying the speed of said arbor in accordance with the build-up in diameter of said coil of scrap.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS $20,874 Black June 5,, 1894 947,344 Nicholson Jan. 25,1910 1,691,294 Lewellen Nov. 13, 1928 2,040,775 Lorig May 12, 1936 2,143,200 Madden Jan. 10, 1939 2,161,228 Littell June 6, 1939 2,264,800 Horstman et a1. Dec. 2, 1941 2,390,812 Snyder Dec. 11, 1945 

